Religion, Gender, and the Public Sphere

Niamh Reilly, Stacey Scriver, Niamh Reilly, Stacey Scriver

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780415843843
• eBook ISBN: 9781135014247
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Islamic Theology

The re-emergence of religion as a significant cultural, social and political, force is not gender neutral. Tensions between claims for women's equality and the rights of sexual minorities on one side and the claims of religions on the other side are well-documented across all major religions and regions. It is also well recognized in feminist scholarship that gender identities and ethno-religious identities work together in complex ways that are often exploited by dominant groups. Hence, a more comprehensive understanding of the changing role and influence of religion in the public sphere more widely requires complex, multidisciplinary and comparative gender analyses.

Most recent discussion on these matters, however, especially in Europe, has focused primarily on the perceived subordinate status of Muslim women. These debates are a reminder of the deep interrelation of questions of gender, identity, human rights and religious freedom more generally. The relatively narrow (albeit important) purview of such discussions so far, however, underscores the need to extend the horizon of enquiry vis-à-vis religion, gender and the public sphere beyond the binary of 'Islam versus the West'. Religion, Gender and the Public Sphere moves gender from the periphery to the centre of contemporary debates about the role of religion in public and political life. It offers a timely, multidisciplinary collection of gender-focused essays that address an array of challenges arising from the changing role and influence of religious organisations, identities, actors and values in the public sphere in contemporary multicultural and democratic societies.

Index

Page numbers in bold denote the chapter which deals mainly with the subject.

abortion 5, 24, 41, 72, 101, 102, 104, 133, 134, 195, 283; anti-abortion 162, 210; bans 155, 156, 160–3, 165nn10–11; Catholic Church and 73–82; Dutch law and 24, 29; ethics of 73, 76; European Court and 155–67; illegal 22, 37, 77, 78, 227; in Poland 222, 224, 226, 227–28; sex selective 24, 28–29, 84

Agrama, H.A. 158, 159, 160

Ahlul-Bayt Islamic Centre, Ireland 59, 61

Al-Ali, Nadje 66n5, 281–82

Alcoff, Linda Martín 217

Al-Fatwa Supreme Council (FSC) 168, 171–74, 175–76, 177n7

Al-Haq 170

All India Muslim Personal Law Board 200, 204

All Pakistan Women’s Association (APWA) 200

Al-Labadi, Fadwa 3, 5, 133, 134, 135, 280, 282, 284, 287

Alliance for Bhikkhunis (AFB) 112–13

Al-Qaeda 34, 37

Al-Saleh, Dr Ali 59, 64

Al-Sistani, Ali Al-Husseini 59, 60, 62, 63, 64, 65

Amara, Fadela 261–62

Amawi, Abla 174, 175

Amnesty International 233, 234, 236

An-Na’im, Abdullahi 174, 185

Antonios, Patriarch Abune 236

Armstrong, Karen 32, 39

Asad, T alal 257–5 8, 264–65

Asia 38, 113, 115, 116n1; East 78, 117n3; South 198; South East 121, 203

Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) 37, 41

asylum seekers 33, 212, 213

atheist position 74, 223, 271

authoritarianism 3,...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction Religion, Gender, and the Public Sphere: Mapping the Terrain1
• Section I Identity, Religion, Migration, and Multiculture
• Section II Contesting Religious Subjectivities
• Section III Religion, Law, and Human Rights
• Section IV Religion, States, and Civil Society
• Section V Researching Religion, Constructing Knowledge Theoretical Revisions and Methodological Challenges
• Contributors
• Index